We spent a day recently at the Levi’s Eureka Lab in San Francisco to profile the innovative new denim styling process delivered by their partnership with Jeanologia, a leader in eco-efficient solutions for fabric and garment finishing, particularly laser. This new process replaces the longtime recipe of hand sanding and chemical treatments. It was a pleasure to meet and photograph Bart Sights, the vice president of technical innovation at Eureka Lab.

Showcasing a few of our favorites spreads from the exquisitely designed and produced “That Book Spider Lake” commission. The project just won 2 awards at the 2018 British Book Design and Production Awards. Here’s what the judges had to say;

‘That Book’ created by Eszter & David and Hurtwood Press was the star of the evening, triumphing in Digitally Printed Books and also securing the prestigious title of Book of the Year. The judges were captivated by the attention to detail, and said it was “devoid of boundaries and designed with boundless imagination”.

It was a very complex undertaking that included a request for a cover that was “bound in water”. So there are metallic papers, color printing, die cutting, foil blocking, acetates, throw outs, postcards, fabrics, giclee prints amongst other things. The challenge was that with fabrics, acetates and special papers, our partners had to develop new and innovative binding techniques to bind the book together properly. Clearly that did not go unnoticed by the judges! We were thrilled, and so to our very happy clients. Thank you to all involved. Hurtwood Press, Billie Temple Design, Ludlow Bookbinders and Pureprint Group. @billetha @eszteranddavid @hurtwoodpress @bbdpawards

Recently spent a great couple of days photographing and getting know the local brewing scene here in San Francisco with visits to Magnolia Brewing Company in Dogpatch district and Black Sands Brewery, located in the Haight. I’ll admit it can be quite distracting trying to work in such venues, when the beer is free flowing and tasting is such an integral part of the job. We knuckled down and kept control of ourselves until the photography ended. Then managed to play some catch up post shoot, sampling an array of amazing brews. First up was Black Sands Brewery, and owner and head brewer Cole Emde. What a generous, charming and handsome chap he turned out to be. Not too difficult to make a good picture there (see below)

Here’s a little sample of the shoot in action.

The killer brewers gear!

Next stop was Magnolia Brewing Company and it’s founder and brewmaster Dave McLean a doyen of the industry and one of the most generous men you may ever meet.

A recent collaboration with the wonderful team at the MPP agency in San Francisco gave us the opportunity to embed on the campus of Santa Clara University for 4 days and interpret day to day life for its student body and faculty. The project started with a unique location scout – a request for us to observe and interpret as we saw fit and come back with our commentary. It is such a gratifying feeling when you have the opportunity to truly collaborate with an agency, taking their original ideas and being given latitude to take the concept and add to it. A big thank you to Robert Maidens, Keith Pacoma and the MPP gang for their vision and their trust in our creativity. Here’s a small sample of the finished product.

Photography is an ever-evolving field. Larger camera sensors, higher megapixel counts, sharper and faster lenses, wireless lighting systems, integrated camera and computer software – the list goes on and on. Even the relationship between client and photographer has been drastically altered: a software program was recently released that, quite literally, puts your current image capture in the hands of the client via their iPhone or iPad for them to instantaneously yay or nay. A bit frightening if you ask me. But one aspect that has undergone some of the most significant change is the way we, as photographers, sell our product. Almost gone are the days of hand delivering beautiful custom-made photo portfolios to art directors and photo editors; these days, one may hand over an iPad with a pre-loaded portfolio instead, or direct creatives to a website. Even within the past five years, there has been a dramatic shift in the rules of running a successful photography business, almost all of which are centered around an online presence.

So much of what we do, and how we promote our business and work, is based on the web. Websites tell a story of our style – what we shoot and how we shoot it; a Facebook business page allows us to connect to all of our ‘likers’ – friends, family, fans; a LinkedIn business page allows us to connect with potential client leads or creative agencies; a FoundFolio, Behance, and Photoserve online gallery help bring the agency creatives and artists closer together by giving the creatives direct access to a virtual yellow-pages of artists; and then there’s always the blog, keeping all of the aforementioned informed of the day-to-day workings and behind-the-scene glimpses of a busy photography business. So while it may seem trivial for a photographer to create a Facebook or LinkedIn business page, you never know who just might stumble across your page. That chance encounter on Facebook or LinkedIn may drive them to the website. After loving the site and work, they may go to work at an agency or company that is looking for a photographer for a major advertising campaign. And bam! You’ve just been hired to work a big job, all because of the your online presence.

So what I’m really trying to say is, make sure you’re utilizing any and every tool at your fingertips. There are so many outlets to help maximize your exposure to your target audience. And while the field of photography has become a much more crowded arena as of late, separating yourself from the crowd by strategically utilizing these online tools can help make all the difference. It doesn’t matter if you’re a photographer, an artist, a musician, or a Fortune 500 company – gaining exposure via online presence is imperative these days.

Starting today, the e+d team has a well-deserved two week break to work in the studio. But just because we aren’t on a shoot doesn’t mean it’s time to relax and put our feet up. Quite the contrary, in fact. It means catching up with bills, invoicing, cleaning and repairing equipment, making phone calls, website and portfolio updating, printing, Gallery Stock submissions, retouching, organizing the studio..the list goes on and on. There are a countless minute details that must be attended to when running a fast-moving business, so there’s never a dull moment with this team.

The majority of the country has the day off today to celebrate Veteran’s Day. Not us. We’ll be hard at work, getting a head start on a few important projects that must completed before we’re back on the road with non-stop shoots. Our first and most important mission of the week is updating our websites. Both sites currently use Flash, but with the recent surge towards HTML5, it’s time to make the switch. This means transferring content between the new and old sites, as well as making the sites phone and tablet ready.

Also, we recently gained admittance to showcase our work on Gallery Stock, so there’s a never ending flow of submissions, selections, and retouched final images that are transferred between us and the GS team. Each shot is hand selected by the GS team, sent back to us for retouching, and then uploaded to their site. Doesn’t sound like a substantial amount of work, but when there are over 800 images waiting in line for approval, it can be quite a long process.

Most importantly, though, time working in the studio means we can take a deep breath, assess our recent weeks on the road, discuss new ideas and concepts to shoot, and ultimately get back to shooting what the e+d team really wants to shoot for themselves. But before any of that can happen, David needs to finish invoicing. Check out the mobile command center below. Have a great week, everyone!

That’s what they asked me! Eszter and Jonah joined in chorus and said let’s go one better, we’ve done a trampoline – give us some more, let’s make a show. Okay so I had an idea…Retrospectively, an expensive one, a complicated one, a mildly dangerous one, but guaranteed to be an exciting one! We recently hosted another Mission Open Studio weekend in our San Francisco Studio and had to come up with something that was sure to entertain a crowd.

News was in of a fellow Australian, newly contracted to the acclaimed San Francisco Ballet was in town – prime target!! Too easy – one cell call, amazing bloke, instant connection, he says yes. So we make it happen – we do trampoline, music, rain shower, big crowd. He does, well….just the unbelievable, we are in awe of his human movement. Just some behind the scenes for now, completed shots to follow. Thank you, Luke Ingham.

A footnote…in the crowd is proud mother of Luke, Jo, all the way from Mt. Gambier, South Australia. We entertained them in our house that week, prior to her return to Australia, you guys are just GREAT!